Ahsan Ali Syed gains impetus in bid to take over at Blackburn Rovers

An Indian entrepreneur has stepped up his efforts to buy Blackburn Rovers by enlisting the support of one of European football’s marketing pioneers.

Jean-Claude Darmon, a multimillionaire sports rights specialist and grandee of the French business scene, has joined a bid by Ahsan Ali Syed, the president and founder of Western Gulf Advisory, an investment firm with offices in Bahrain and Switzerland.

A sports industry veteran, Darmon will initially advise Ali’s negotiating team, which hopes to conclude a deal with the trustees of Jack Walker’s estate by the end of the month.

If the bid is successful, he will develop a commercial strategy for the loss-making club, who have struggled since winning the Premier League in 1995. However, he would not be involved in the…